matt wilt

“Ceramics have always been there…for an infinite number of years, sweet as bread and even older than bread. Ceramics are older than the Bible…older than all the poems ever written, older than goats and cats, older than houses, older than metals. Ceramics are as old as mammoth teeth, the ribs of bears and reindeer antlers.” - Ettore Sottsass, Founding member of the Memphis Design Group My work has become less vessel-oriented in recent years, though research into historical ceramics has continued to feed my ideas. Often my forms will seem to suggest a specific function or use, but the use is ambiguous; a hybrid of the known world with a less concrete reality. This newer work also draws from a catalogue of forms that are suggestive in nature. In Philip Rawson's book Ceramics, he refers to memory traces, and the power of forms to evoke thoughts and memories. This is similar to the way we associate colors with emotional states or meanings. By incorporating forms that are symbolic and suggestive, I attempt to engage the viewer in a process of decoding. Symbolic forms that I find particularly compelling include the head and hand, and objects used as surrogates for the body: bottle nipples, respirator bags, sex toys, prosthetics. The head and hand exemplify the human presence, while the other objects, to varying degrees, distance us from the most human of activities. These forms, as manufactured objects replicating natural functions, act as substitutes for nature.
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